


The End, And Everything After

by Decepticonsensual



Series: Tiny Important Words [4]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27090766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decepticonsensual/pseuds/Decepticonsensual
Summary: Rodimus wakes up in a hospital bed, and finds something he didn't think he'd have again.
Relationships: Rodimus & Nautica, Rodimus & The Rod Squad
Series: Tiny Important Words [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977247
Comments: 9
Kudos: 24





	The End, And Everything After

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for self-destructive risk-taking, injuries, and general dysfunction. Spoilers through LL 25.
> 
> This fic is part of a series of short fics I wrote on Tumblr for prompts taken from this list: https://decepticonsensual.tumblr.com/post/631057835507286016/two-part-drabble-game
> 
> The prompt for this story was: _in the hospital_ \+ "The guilt is eating me alive."

[Warning for self-destructive risk-taking, injuries, and general dysfunction. Spoilers through LL 25.]

“The guilt is eating me alive.”

Rodimus blinks up blearily from the hospital bed, and switches on his most dazzling smile. “Aww, hey, no,” he says. “What have you got to feel guilty about, Nauts?”

Nautica is actually wringing her hands, which Rodimus always thought was just an expression. “I should have - I don’t know,” she says in a rush. “ _We_ should have tried to find you sooner. After Ratchet’s funeral - well, Drift got in touch with all of us, told us you were acting self-destructive -”

“I’m _not -”_

_“_ Rodimus.” Her optics go to the mangled wreck of his shoulder and right side, the acid scars on his plating.

“This was an injury in the line of duty! I was saving my -” his voice still catches a little on the title, even after all this time that it hasn’t belonged to him - “my _captain’s_ life.”

“You were being reckless. Thunderclash himself told us when we turned up. He said that if you’d waited for help, neither of you would have gotten hurt.”

“Yeah, well, Thunderclash is just full of good advice after the fact, isn’t he?”

When Nautica speaks again, it’s very quiet, and not a response to anything he’s said; and it sends a chill down Rodimus’s back strut.

“We left you alone.”

He looks up sharply, even though the motion makes his helm swim. She’s biting her lip, not meeting his optics.

“We didn’t mean to,” she continues, and Rodimus wants to order her - beg her - to _stop,_ just stop, he can’t take the soft ache in her voice, he’s going to break apart. “We were all so caught up in the exciting things we wanted to do once the quest was over, and, well, I - I think we all just assumed that you had better things to be doing than tagging along with any of us. _Cooler_ things. So we didn’t ask, and then -”

“And then no one asked.” Rodimus makes himself smile, though it takes all he has. "It’s okay, Nautica. Really, seriously. The quest was done. You were _supposed_ to go out and find new adventures. That’s what it was all about, in the end - all of you, finding a way to be happy.”

“And we did. But it’s not okay, Rodimus. We were your Rod Squad, and we left you alone.” She hesitates, then takes his hand. He closes his fingers around hers, feeling the calluses, the snags in the metal where millennia of using that wrench have roughened it. “If you’re willing… I’d like to invite you to be part of _my_ squad, now.”

“Your…?”

“My amicae endurae.” Behind her, Rodimus can see Brainstorm’s and Velocity’s heads peeking around the door, as if the magic words have summoned them; they must have been listening outside. “We may not be as many as we used to be, but - well, you’ve always been our friend. You deserve to know that, and we want you to join us. If you’ll have us.”

Rodimus’s ventilations stutter for a moment before he can speak. “Y-yeah. I’d like that.” He smiles, for real this time. “The Naut Squad.”

“No -”

“Too late, already named it!”


End file.
